Departing 5/11/2016

President did the departing interviews at the mission home yesterday before having dinner.  Only two missionaries going home.  This is the smallest number that we've had go.  

We had a nice evening and at 8:30 missionaries came to pick these two up to stay the night with them.  They had been invited to join us for dessert.  I tried a new recipe - strawberry cheesecake roll.

Elder Chatterton and Hermana Garza

These missionaries have had good missions and touched lives.

New Arrivals 5/9/2016

We get excited to meet the new missionaries so when the flight was delayed three times, it was disappointing to have to wait two hours.  As you can see though, even though they were tired they still have great smiles.

Flexibility is what we have learned while on the mission.  Instead of going to the mission office we went to the mission home for a little orientation by the Assistants and interviews with President Felix while Sister Felix was doing the finishing touches on dinner. 

Elder Rodriguez

Elder Hoff

Elder Jones

Elder Hamelin

Hermana Flores

Hermana Gomez

Sister Coleman

This is in front of the mission home just before getting their luggage out of the trailer to put into the garage.

The Elders stayed with members and the sisters stayed at the mission home.  Tuesday morning we had waffles for breakfast (tradition) and then did our little powerpoint introduction.  It is so fun to see and hear the reactions of the new missionaries when we take them to the Cross.  

Elder Hamelin is the first to jump with both feet in and Hermana Gomez was the last.  They are all committed to have both feet in the mission.  Earlier we extended an invitation to read the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of their lives.  They all agreed!

We drove to the mission office and played Jeopardy with questions coming from Preach My Gospel and the Missionary Handbook.  The trainers joined us for lunch and then President met with the trainers and the senior couples met with the new missionaries for more orientation.  We came together and the companionships were announced.

Hermanas Flores and Kneip

Hermanas Ames and Gomez

Elders Rodriguez and Peart

Elders Jones and Slaugh

Sisters Israelsen and Coleman

Elders Hamelin and Huston

Elders Hoff and Dorius

Follow up Training

Today all the new missionaries who have arrived within the last six weeks and their trainers came to the mission office for follow up training.

Elder Iverson talked about cars and Tiwi.  Elder Floyd covered cleaning of vacuums, mold, bugs and finances.  Sister Felix did a power point on etiquette.  The Sisters/Hermanas stayed with Sister Felix to discuss dress standard guidelines while the Elders went with President Felix.  Then the trainers stayed together to discuss how it has been going over the past transfer while the new missionaries were with 

President & Sister Felix discussing how they were doing.  These new missionaries are loving their missions.  They would like to be out of the apartment doing more finding and teaching but for the first 12 weeks of their mission they have an extra hour of studying with their trainer to work on the fundamentals.  The Spanish speaking missionaries have an hour daily to work on language.

President Felix concluded the meeting talking about the Doctrine of Christ.

Front:  Hermanas Wright, Hirst, Lance, Scott

Middle:  Hermanas Green, Torrico, Sisters King, Hardy

Back:  Hermanas Peterson, Gonzalez

Front:  Elders Atkinson, Hales, Taufatofua, Portillo

Back:  Elders Shaw, Haines, Nielson, Gregory

They are eating Strawberry-Banana Trifle.

The strawberries here are so delicious!

Mid transfer

Yea, they are here!

Hermana Lance

Elder Portillo

President and I picked up food from the Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch and then went to the airport to greet these missionaries.  They were so excited to be here.  It was such a beautiful day and fun for them to have lunch by the ocean.

They are jumping in with both feet!

We know these missionaries will do great here in the CVM.

Both missionaries were able to pick avacados from our trees to take with them.  

The assistants came to the mission home and did a short orientation then we drove to the mission office for the Senior Couples to do more orientation.

This is the exciting part, when the companions meet each other.

Elders Taufatofua and Portillo

Hermanas Lance and Scott

Just Serve

The missionaries from Ventura and Camarillo zones were given the opportunity to be of service at the California Dentist Association's free clinic.  Everyone involved was giving of their time without pay to help provide free dental service.  Our missionaries helped set up on Friday and came back on Saturday to volunteer.

This event was very well organized.  The patient went from triage to decide what needed to be done.  X-rays were taken, fillings, oral surgery, extractions, cleanings, and dentures. Patients could not move around without one of us volunteers.

Many compliments were given to us and gratitude for the missionaries' help.

We had name tags and we put our missionary tags over them.

Elder Herrera

Elder Bradler

Sister Floyd and walking away is Elder Floyd.

This pic includes Hermana Johnson at the back with her back to us, Hermana Eames and Elder Floyd.

Sisters Hopkins and Jones

We were given t-shirts to wear which was our "pass" to move around freely to go between the two buildings.  The patients had to have a volunteer with them as they went from station to station.

Elder Iverson

Hermanas Kneip and Pirir

People lined up even on Friday morning to be seen on Saturday morning.  We helped Tony who said he was first in line and had been there for four days.  He was getting dentures.  He said he would accept missionaries to visit him.

Randy was so excited to get dentures where his front teeth were missing.  He said he was so excited to get his life back.

Elders Weiss, Summers and Sister Felix

Elders Strom and Davis

While people were standing in line outside, missionaries would take them food.

Elders Slaugh and Jo carried dental instruments to the cleaning area.

Sisters Felix and Iverson

Sister Iverson's shirt is yellow to show she can interpret (she does ASL), some of the missionaries did Spanish.

Elders Atkinson and Hales are cutting up strawberries for the volunteers to eat on their breaks.

Elders Gibb and King

Hermanas Hirst, Scott, Wright

The yellow tag lets others know they can interpret Spanish.

Sisters Houseman and Meglen

back clockwise:  Elders Hatman, Heck, Sisters Greding, Barnum, Elder Nielson

Receiving some instruction are Elders Barrios-Vega, Taufatofua, McLane

Elders Gemar and Routledge

Elder Iverson wrote to the coordinator requesting some particulars regarding the service. 

"The LDS volunteers have helped so much since the church got involved in December 2013. They have made CDA Cares better. We are truly grateful for LDS participation, not just the volunteers, but the connections to the community to help secure donations, get media coverage, support the patients with food/water, etc. The LDS point people I have had the privilege of working with are amazing people – smart, kind, generous and great to work with. Nothing is too big or too small and the answer to any request I have ever made is yes, we can help with that."

  

1,884 people served, $1,5 million in care provided

89 dentures

99 stayplates

1,394 volunteers

311 dentists

78 hygienists

305 dental assistants

28 lab technicians

177 dental students

43 medical professionals (physicians, nurses, nursing students)

452 community volunteers